Buffalo Dream, Bison Nightmares
No time to fart or fumble, on my belly with a beast that had tried to kill a man only the day before. Willard Sumption had a buffalo ranch a little south of Aberdeen in that rolling country east of the Missouri breaks. Willard had one bad eye from the time two of his...
Fire & Iron Damascus Steel
Modern smiths keep an ancient art alive.
Battle of Sugar Point – Wild Rice Shoot-Out
They were among the most peaceable Indians, the papers all said, but they had a grievance. This is the story of the Battle of Sugar Point. Wild rice. It’s good alright, mighty good, cooked long and slow in moose broth, with maybe morel mushrooms and...
Panther: The Comeback Cat
“If called by a panther, don’t anther,” said Ogden Nash, and wildlife professionals are heeding his advice…for better or worse. Randolph County, Missouri. Farm country. November 2012. 2:00 a.m. A no-nonsense, kick-ass, bread baking, stew...
Roosevelt and the Rough Riders
Roosevelt’s cowboy cavalry, the Rough Riders, and their victory at the Battle of San Juan Hill made Roosevelt the most famous man in America in 1898. Back East, Theodore Roosevelt co-chaired a commission to beautify Niagara Falls and rooted out corruption from...
Life Among Serpents
There’s nothing like a snake to make a man sit up and pay attention.
A Gift of Water and Wind
Three-fifths of the world is water and the wind courses over all of it. So when Pappy gave me that 10-foot bateau, he gave me the world. The first swell smacked the port quarter, sent green water clean over the wheelhouse. Aboard Maggie C, a 26-foot Maine Lobsterman,...
True to the Bird: An Oysterman’s Sporting Legacy
Oysterman and artist, Gilbert Maggioni, married late and had no children. He passed his legacy to two young men, William Rhett of Beaufort and Grainger McKoy of Sumter. Gilbert Maggioni was an ornery old cuss most people said. He cussed the weather and he cussed the...